Turunku: Queen Amina’s forgotten hometown

Of all the neglected sites in Kaduna State, Queen Amina’s hometown, Turunku, is probably the most painful. Centuries after her reign and exploits, the warrior queen continues to stir the mind. Primary school pupils study her as much as researchers probe into her intriguing war past. Today, the queen who mastered the art of warfare on horse back, humbling one community after another, is regarded as one of Africa’s greatest women.

Shouldn’t her birthplace, Turunku, therefore be a money spinner, an irresistible destination for tourists? But successive governments in the state have routinely looked away from the town, leaving it an ungainly settlement.

The neglect of Turunku is almost as legendary as its illustrious heroine. First, she was always called Queen Amina of Zaria though she never really lived in the town, which was named after her younger sister. Also, many do not know that the Zazzau emirate did not originally start from its present location, but at Turunku in present-day Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

What does all that fetch Turunku and its residents? It seems pretty little. The town which would have been generating huge revenues for the state government has been abandoned. The only sign of government’s presence there is the fence round the tomb of Queen Amina’s father. Worse, the fact that the famous warrior queen and her people ever reigned in Turunku may never be known to future generations, due to lack of efforts to protect and promote the site.

When The Nation visited the tomb of Queen Amina’s father in Turunku, it was covered with weed, even though it was fenced by the government. It was clear that few visitors or tourists will be attracted to the place. Also, the tie and dye wells (known as ‘Rijiyan Rini’ in Hausa) which were used by Queen Amina and her people were also covered by grass, while farmers have taken over the entire area leaving little space by the Turunku-Farakwai roadside. There is nothing to indicate that such a warrior ever passed through the place, let alone reign there.

When The Nation visited, it was discovered that the villagers had made their own arrangement to conduct would be visitors round the remaining sites, which included the mountain where Queen Amina is said to have lived.

It was also discovered that there is no designated route to the top of the mountain, but the tour guide attached to this reporter disclosed that there was an easy route to the top. It was an interesting, but scary expedition. At the base of the rocky mountain was the game board used by Queen Amina and her people to relax. There is also a big, flat rock with several holes, which they used to play the game known today as ‘ayo’.

Also close to it is what is known as ‘Zakzak’, where Bakwa, Amina’s father from whom she learnt the art of warfare is believed to have buried his sword. It is believed that Bakwa never went beyond this point whenever he saw his visitors off.

There is also the ‘Dutsen Hiya’ and ‘Dutsen Boyewa. While Dutsen Hiya is said to be the place where she prayed for victory before she went to battle, Dutsen Boyewa is a covering for an underground tunnel where they hid their children during war.

While these sites still exist, there is no effort to protect them from extinction.

At the top of the mountain is the rock bed used by Queen Amina and her bodyguards.

However, while it was noticed that the rock bed was much wider than beds used in those days, the tour guide, Abubakar, told The Nation that people of Queen Amina’s generation were 10 times bigger than their modern counterparts.

She was the chief protector of her community and this is evident by the placement of her stool located at the northern entrance to her community regarded as Kofar Arewa and another located in the southern entrance to the community known as Kofar Kudu. From these seats, she could see an enemy coming several kilometres away. A big grinding stone said to have been used by the community also sits on top of the mountain. There is also a well to provide water and a poison mortar used to prepare poison for their arrows when preparing for war.

One interesting discovery was a big hole said to be snake hole in the rock where a big snake is said to have lived for over 100 years. Even though the snake could not be seen, a strange odour which was said to be its breath welcomes visitors to the place. Abubakar told The Nation that the snake usually came out every Sunday and that it stopped coming out since a visiting journalist took its photograph some years back.

The mention of the giant snake sent jitters down the spine of this reporter and the tour was brought to an abrupt end, but that was not before Abubakar disclosed that there was nothing else to be seen.

After about three hours journey to and from the seat of Queen Amina, the traditional ruler of Turunku, Alhaji Ahmed Abdullahi told The Nation that if the government had taken serious interest in the sites, climbing the mountains would have been made easier.

He described Queen Amina as a very successful warrior, saying she always took her war booty to her sister’s settlement in Zaria. He added that over a period of time, her many conquests and subsequent annexation of territories extended beyond the borders of Zaria.

One of the tour guides who gave his name simply as Ahmed told The Nation that Queen Amina was never married and had no children of her own. He noted that instead of having a husband of her own, the brave Amina always took a temporary mate from the legions of vanquished foes after every battle, spent one night with the man and executed him the following morning to prevent him from ever speaking about his sexual encounter with her.

Ahmed, a young school leaver who said his ambition is to document the history of Turunku, also said that the legendary “Amina committed suicide during a military campaign at Dekina in the present Kogi State and was buried in Idah”.

According to him, Queen Amina who had a successful military exploit in Dekina took a temporary husband in the place and could not kill the man after their sexual encounter. He stressed that “a soothsayer had predicted Queen Amina’s coming to Dekina and told their ruler to bury his young daughter and a young man alive to prevent their land from being conquered by the female warrior. And that was what led to her failure to kill the man who spent a night with the warrior queen. The man, it is said, sneaked out in the middle of the night. Worried by that development, Queen Amina refused to return home. She jumped into the river and died at Dekina and was later buried at Idah.”

Life and times of the warrior Queen

The Nation’s findings revealed that Queen Amina took after her father as a warrior and leader of her people. Her father, known to the people simply as Bakwa was the 18th ruler of Turunku and their family wealth was derived mainly from trading in leather goods, cloth, kola, salt, horses and imported metals. It was also learnt that Amina’s younger sister, Amamatu who was also known as Zaria left Turunku because of water scarcity and settled in the present-day Zaria, a place that was later named after her.

Amina who was said to have been born in 1533. In 1576 she became the ruler of Zazzau.